Child abuse pleaded down

But defendant contends she didn’t agree

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

A felony charge of child abuse was reduced Thursday to misdemeanor battery, but the defendant contends she didn’t agree to the deal.

Defendant Amy D. Stutzman, 51, formerly of Peabody, now living in Arkansas City, entered the plea Thursday, according to court records.

According to a complaint filed Jan. 25, 2024, by Joel Ensey, who was county attorney at the time, Stutzman beat a 10-year-old child in November, 2023.

The child now is in state custody and lives in a foster home.

A jury trial was scheduled for September, but not enough potential jurors were called. A mistrial was declared, and the trial was rescheduled for last week. It was canceled when the plea agreement was given to Judge Susan Robson.

Under the terms of the agreement, worked out Jan. 22 between new county attorney Michelle Brown and Stutzman’s lawyer, Brian Coon of Wichita, the child abuse charge was reduced to misdemeanor battery, all costs were waived, no time in jail was ordered, and no fine was assessed.

Stutzman was ordered to have no contact with the child until he is grown.

In emails to the Record, Stutzman claims she did not agree to the plea. A email from Coon to Brown on Jan. 22 said she did.

Stutzman texted Coon on Jan. 21, saying she wanted the case dismissed with prejudice and with the state paying her legal fees.

“In return I will never have any form of contact with (the boy or his sister) or anyone who does have contact with them,” Stutzman wrote.

In an email to the Record, she added: “I may have considered their offer to just be done with Marion County once and for all … had it been done legally … to save the children from having to be exposed for their lies in court.

“Violating state statutes and constitutional rights wasn’t the answer, ever.

“The prosecution did this, not me. I want to stop being held hostage by the 8th Judicial District and simply be allowed to get on with my life once and for all.”

Stutzman contends that sheriff’s deputy Aaron Christner mishandled his investigation of an initial report of child abuse.

“In Aaron’s body camera footage, (the boy) told him that I broke a time-out chair over his head,” Stutzman wrote. “(He) then proceeded to tell Aaron that the chair was in my bedroom because I didn’t like it anymore….

“Had the sheriff’s department followed proper protocol and procedures, they would have executed a search warrant and found no chair as I had a church pew in my north hallway where they hung their coats and backpacks. That was used as a time-out bench when needed.

“No search warrants and no arrest warrants — nothing when they took both children.”

Brown said she agreed to the reduced charges because Ensey had filed a complaint that could not be proved in court.

Among other things, the complaint did not list “lesser included charges,” such as aggravated battery.

The initial report to the sheriff’s office was made by a teacher who has since moved and was never served a subpoena to testify.

That would have meant all testimony would have been “hearsay” except for that of the boy, who is developmentally delayed, Brown said.

Ensey offered a plea agreement before leaving office this month, both Stutzman and Brown said.

“Joel tried to get two counts (from one charge) and a year probation with court fees,” Stutzman said. “That was denied immediately. The prosecution knows this was a false charge from the beginning.”

In an earlier case, a jury found Stutzman guilty Sept. 30, 2021, of three counts of aggravated assault after she shot a handgun toward the feet of surveyors working on the Sunflower Wind project.

She was sentenced to 18 months’ community corrections in that case.

With that criminal history, she could have been sentenced to as much as 136 months in prison had she been convicted of child abuse.

Sentencing guidelines for misdemeanor battery suggest a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.